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UPON 



UNIITED STATES SENATOR 









\ 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS 



WILLIAM J. SEWELL, 

UNITED STATES S?;NATOR OK NEW JERSEY 



HON. EDWARD C. STOKES, 



DEUVBKED BEFORE THE 



LEGISLATURE OF NEW JERSEY, 



MARCH 24, 1902. 



TRENTON, N. J. 
The John L. Murphy Publishing Co., Printers. 

1902. 






57 CT'aJlflfW 

White HcU9», 



When Bossuet rose to deliver the funeral oration 

J over the Prince of Conde, he said that words could 

N add nothing to the fame or virtues of the dead ; his 

C 

51 actions alone were the highest praise; all other 

n" eulogies failed. 

^ The same thought is suggested by the character 

and work of him to whose memory to-day we pay 
our tribute of appreciation and love. His life was 
so sincere, so modest, and yet so eventful and full 
of results, that a faithful narrative of deeds per- 
formed will best speak his virtues. 

New Jersey boasts of a long line of distinguished 
sons. Fame and glory have come to her from her 
soldiers and statesmen ; from her jurists and scholars; 
from her discoverers and inventors ; but of all the 
illustrious men whom she claims as her own, there is 
none who loved his country and State with a greater 



love, or more zealously sought to promote tbeir wel- 
fare and honor, than did General William J. Sewell. 
I speak of him as "General," for by that title he 
was loved by his comrades of war ; by that title 
known throughout the State and nation, and by that 
saluted by his associates and friends. 

He was not of American parentage. He was alien 
born — ours by adoption. Yet he was none the less 
an American by instinct and training, and had a 
most sincere and genuine affection for this Land of 
the Free. His patriotism knew no bounds, and the 
Stars and Stripes were as dear to his heart as the 
life he so freely offered in their defense. On one 
occasion, in response to a greeting by his friends, in 
a burst of feeling, of which he was always capable, 
but which he seldom displayed, he declared that if 
he could have his choice, he would choose to die 
fighting for the country which had done so much 
for him. 

The typical American is cosmopolitan by blood 
and kin. In him are to be found some of the traits 



5 

of all nations. He is partly English, partly Irish, 
partly German, boasts of his Dutch ancestry, and 
shows some of the suavity of the French. He is the 
evolved product of hundreds and thousands of 
liberty-loving pioneers who have come hither from 
abroad, found homes upon our hospitable shores, 
and, adapting themselves to the genius of our insti- 
tutions, have become part of the warp and woof of 
our national life. 

These adopted citizens, appreciating the blessings, 
privileges and opportunities of America, have been 
ever eager in protecting her ideals and ready to do 
battle whenever her honor and safety were threat- 
ened. The War of the Revolution had its DeKalb, 
its Von Steuben, its Pulaski and its Lafayette. 
Upon the muster rolls of the Union forces are found 
the names of thousands who, cradled in foreign 
lands, fought along the Potomac, the Tennessee and 
the Mississippi for the preservation of the Republic. 
Heintzelmanu, Siegel, Weber, Hexamer of this 
State, Woerner and his German Battery, Blenker's 



6 

Brigade of New York, and two hundred thousand 
others, attest the devotion of the sons of the Father- 
kind to the nation's cause. Thomas Francis Meagher 
and his galhint Irish Brigade, fighting Phil Kearny, 
New Jersey's idol of the war ; Sheridan and Kil- 
patrick, with one hundred and fifty thousand more 
of like nationality, attest the devotion of the Irish 
heart. Nor were these the only contributing 
nations ; others, too, gave of their sons to our de- 
fense and safe deliverance. To such as these — 
Americans not by birth, but by choice — who have 
proved their title and their patriotism by service and 
sacrifice, belongs the man whose life we now review 
and whose death we lament. 

He came of a vigorous and self-reliant ancestry. 
Its original coat-of-arms was first conferred upon 
one of the line for gallantry at the Battle of Cressy, 
in defense of the Black Prince, and to this there was 
added later the crest, a mailed hand brandishing a 
cap of liberty — a republican emblem that could only 
have been won by resistance to kings. From men 



7 

like these, independent freeholders of the border 
counties of old England, who knew no over-lords, 
who had fought for principles of law and justice at 
Naseby and Marston Moor, and who breathed the 
very air of sovereignty in the freedom of their 
homes, sprang one of the ancestral lines of the sub- 
ject of this occasion. Thomas Sewell was the second 
son of the family, living in the parish of Seberg- 
ham, Cumberland. Commissioned in the English 
civil service, he was sent in the performance of 
public duties to Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland. 
While there he married into a family of Scotch- 
Irish lineage — the daughter of Captain William 
Butler Joyce, of the Fifth Irish Dragoons, a crip- 
pled veteran of the Peninsular War. 

General Sewell was one of three children of this 
union, and was thus of Irish-English descent — 
English upon his father's side and Scotch-Irish 
upon his mother's ; but it was Ireland, the land of 
his birth and boyhood days, rather than England, 
that he always held in the greatest affection. In 



8 

him were blended the best traits of these races — the 
sturdiness, determiuation and dignity of the English, 
the shrewdness and keen perception of the Celtic ; 
in his blood were the same strains that gave Wel- 
lington to England, Bruce to Scotland and O'Con- 
nell to Ireland. 

Born in 1835, left fatherless and motherless at 
an early age, this orphan lad followed an older 
brother, Kobert, to the City of New York. There, 
when about eighteen years of age, he entered the 
service of the sea, and sailed before the mast on the 
" Flyaway," an American merchantman about to 
make a voyage of the world. Steam had not then 
revolutionized the commerce of the seas, and ships 
of the clipper type occupied the front rank in ocean 
travel. One incident of this voyage makes it worthy 
of mention. The child is always father to the man, 
and to the boy on the good ship " Flyaway " there 
came an opportunity to show those sterling qualities 
which distinguished him in after life and made him 
successful in every field in which his energies were 



9 

employed. The ship touched at a port in Australia 
at a time when the discovery of gold was offering 
hopes of speedy and fabulous wealth. The crew 
yielded to the temptation, mutinied and attempted 
to seize the vessel, but young Sewell, with the same 
hatred of rebellion he showed later in life on a 
broader field, took his stand with the little band of 
officers who were defending the property entrusted 
to their care. All night long the opposing forces 
held their ground, without advantage on either side. 
With the dawn of the morning, at great personal 
risk, Sewell succeeded in signaling a man-of-war 
lying a few miles distant. A relief party was at 
once sent, and the officers of the " Flyaway " were 
soon relieved and restored to their rightful authority. 
For this courageous conduct, he received promotion 
and the youngster who sailed, as a boy, returned 
with the rank of first mate. 

His arrival in this country was coincident with 
the acute stages of the slavery agitation. It was the 
time of the culmination of questions, discussions and 



10 

controversies which involved the life of the nation, 
and which were to be settled only by the tribunal 
of war. The passage of the Fugitive Slave law, the 
repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the Kansas and 
Nebraska struggle, the Lincoln and Douglass debates, 
and John Brown's raid, followed each other in rapid 
succession. Lovejoy, William Lloyd Garrison and 
Wendell Phillips were the storm centers of agitation. 
The crisis was at hand ; the time had come when 
the nation could no longer exist half slave and half 
free ; it must make the choice. The signal fires of 
war flashed at Fort Sumter. A flame of patriotism 
stirred the hearts of the North. The nation must 
be saved. Volunteers alone could save it, and they 
went bravely and promptly to the front in response 
to Lincoln's call. 

Of these volunteers, among the first to enlist was 
Captain Sewell. He oflPered himself as a private, but 
secured a Captain's commission in the Fifth New 
Jersey, and served throughout that four years' 
terrible conflict, save for a brief period when disabled 



11 

by sickness and wounds. His record in the war is 
a part of our State's history, of which every Jersey- 
man is proud. For gallant and meritorious conduct 
he was steadily advanced in rank, and near the close 
of the war was commissioned by brevet, Brigadier- 
General and Major-General of Volunteers. A medal, 
presented to him by the officers and men of the Fifth 
New Jersey, " for valor," inscribed with the names 
of the engagements in which he participated, is a 
mute but eloquent testimonial of the regard in which 
he was held by those who served with him on the 
field of danger. His character as a soldier, however, 
is so well described in the order, issued at the time 
of his death, by the then Governor of this State, that 
I can do no better than to quote its words : " He 
was a type whom all love to honor and follow. 
Courageous, strict in discipline, devoted to the in- 
terest of his men, ever mindful of their comfort and 
well-being, he had the love and loyal devotion of 
those who served under him. He was bold, and 



12 

inspired others with a confidence and courage akin 
to liis own. He led where any dared to follow." 

His charge at Chancellorsville was one of the most 
brilliant feats of the war and won for him a medal 
of honor. The war correspondent who was upon 
the field at the time, described it as " one of those 
splendid achievements seldom occurring in this war, 
but which, when occurring, cover the soldier's 
career with imperishable glory." It was the morn- 
ing of May 3d, 1863— the last of the three days' 
battle. The Second Brigade of New Jersey had 
had but two hours' sleep during the night. They 
had formed in fighting line before daybreak, and 
had been under continuous fire for over four hours. 
Many of their comrades were dead. More lay 
wounded and dying about them. General Mott had 
been injured and carried from the field. General 
Berry had been killed, and the command fell upon 
Colonel Sewell. 

To the south and in front, and to the west and on 
the right flank, were the Confederate troops. They 



13 

were swarming forward in overwhelming numbers, 
and had seized a hill from which the Federals had 
been driven, and which Sewell realized must be re- 
covered. With the instinct of a born soldier he 
rallied his disheartened forces, and seeing them 
hesitate in the presence of the foe of such over- 
whelming numbers that it seemed madness to charge, 
he galloped to the front, in advance of the brigade, 
until he stood in distinct view of all, and then ex- 
claimed : "At least Jerseymen, follow me ! " His 
example was irresistible. With a rush and cheer 
the whole line went forward. Up and over the hill 
they drove the retreating enemy, and on the crest 
of the earth-works planted the regimental colors. 
The new Commander and New Jersey's sons had 
added another to the illustrious deeds of valor that 
crowd the history of Hooker's old division. 

Colonel Sewell's soldierly conduct and his eminent 
capacity for command were complimented that day 
upon the field. 

It was one of the glories of the civil conflict that 



14 

it never cultivated a purely martial spirit. After 
its four years of carnage and strife, of military life, 
of bivouac and battle, of fevered excitement, when 
peace was declared, when the muster hour sounded, 
its millions of armed men melted quietly away into 
the ranks of private life as if war had never been. 
General Sewell was one of the men who stepped 
down from a high position of rank as a soldier, to 
start at the bottom and begin life anew as a civilian. 
His whole career was typically American. It 
had its early struggles and difficulties and its later 
victories and triumphs. He was self-made ; he 
owed nothing to fortune ; he started with no capital 
except natural ability, an honest character and a 
determination to succeed. He won successive sta- 
tions of honor by the power of his own integrity 
and industry, his own high purposes and indomitable 
will. 

" He made by force his merit known, 
And lived to clutch the golden keys. 
To mold a mighty State's decrees." 



15 

But lie was not only self-made — he was self-edu- 
cated. In the lives of most great men one can trace 
the influence of some patron or teacher, or some in- 
stitution that has guided and directed their thoughts 
in days of youth. Alexander had Aristotle as his 
instructor; Grant had the advantage of a training 
at West Point; Garfield sat at the feet of Mark 
Hopkins. General Sewell taught himself. In the 
school of experience alone, he learned the lessons of 
life. Upon the various occupations in which he 
engaged in life he entered without previous training, 
and schooled himself to a high degree of excellence. 

His labors in the field of transportation began at 
the close of the war and continued to the end of his 
life. It is a story of accomplishment and advance- 
ment — the story of one who began in a subordinate 
position and climbed his way to the top. Station 
Master, Superintendent, Vice President, President ! 
Round by round he rose, by careful attention to 
duty, by steadfastness of purpose, by industry, by 
perception of opportunity and by courage of per- 



16 

formance. " No words," says a high official of that 
great railroad system with which he was connected, 
" can overstate the confidence reposed in him by his 
associate?, or their appreciation ot" his exceptional 
abilities." He had the habit of doijiy things ; his 
miud was constructive and creative rather than 
critical ; his insight was quick and true ; he saw 
improvements and new avenues of trade and traffic, 
just as Columbus saw the new world before he crossed 
the Atlantic. These were as real to him as revela- 
tions to Mahomet. He thought them out carefully, 
planned his work as he would a campaign, and when 
once he had decided upon a course of action, nothing 
swerved him from the determined pathway. 

It has been well said that the world and its affiiirs 
are administered by men of action rather than by 
philosophers and dreamers. The marvelous achieve- 
ments of this day and generation are the result of 
efforts of the great captains of industry — of men 
whose practical minds can see a completed work 
even before it is started — a trans-continental rail- 



17 

road before the first spike is driven ; an Erie canal 
before a spade is handled ; a sub-marine cable join- 
ing two continents before the Great Eastern is built; 
a Brooklyn bridge before the first cable is swung. 
It is in these fields that the greatest progress has 
been made, the greatest benefits conferred upon man- 
kind. As McKinley pointed out in that memorable 
speech at Buffalo, trade and transportation have 
revolutionized civilization, improved the condition 
of society and made the whole world one. New 
methods of traffic and communication have enabled 
us to utilize the fields, the forests, the mines, furnish 
profitable employment to millions, bring comfort to 
the home and competence to age. Such enterprises 
as these always engaged the attention of General 
Sewell. He held with Schiller that — 

" The toil of science swells the wealth of art." 

In his mind the railroads were the necessary veins 
and arteries of all scientific, industrial and business 
life. They have done more than any one agency to 



18 

people the land, extend civilization and open the 
wilderness, and to their development he devoted his 
whole life with all his great energy and ability. 

" Genius," said Carlyle, " is the capacity for hard 
work," and those who imagine to the contrary find 
no encouragement in General Sewell's life. His 
disposition of business was orderly and rapid ; he 
kept every appointment ; his executive ability, skill 
in classification and quickness of perception, enabled 
him to dispatch a vast amount of details with ease ; 
but he seldom enjoyed, or rather, I should say, 
Buffered, an idle moment. He was always at work. 
Even when traveling, he was dictating correspond- 
ence or attending to some of his many duties, and 
few men had more. In addition to his railroad and 
senatorial work, more than enough for one man 
when performed as conscientiously as he performed 
it, he looked after the National Soldiers' Home, an 
institution always dear to his heart; was a trustee 
in a great life insurance company, an active director 
in an international steamship line, several banking 



19 

institutions and other kindred enterprises, and he de- 
voted no little time and labor to the National Guard. 
His intense and earnest nature permitted him to 
slight no position of trust he assumed. His unre- 
mitting industry undoubtedly hastened his end. 
His physicians warned him that the strain was too 
great ; but in vain. He could not stop. He worked 
with the same sense of duty that drove the early 
martyrs to the stake. In a burst of confidence he 
once said to me : "I want to die in harness," and 
this remark indicated the intense energy of the man. 
To the younger generation he was best known in 
a public capacity. Three times a member of our 
State Senate ; three times President of tliat body ; 
three times elected United States Senator ; six times 
in succession Chairman of the State Delegation to 
National Conventions, is a record surpassed by few. 
For a quarter of a century he was the acknowledged 
leader of his own party, and toward the last — I 
speak advisedly— he was trustfully consulted by his 
opponents as well. There were times when his 



20 

leadership was challenged, but never successfully. 
The value of his services and his unfailing courage 
made him invincible. Like the drummer boy at 
Marengo, he did not know how to retreat ; he only 
knew how to advance. 

A bold and manly frankness characterized his 
expressions of opinion, and in all his undertakings 
it may be truly said, "he never stooped to conquer." 
He never paltered in a double sense. How he hated 
shams ! How he scorned the hypocrite ! How 
powerless was friend or foe to whip him into any 
line of action contrary to his ideas of right ! His 
State and country were never in doubt as to his 
opinion upon all public questions ; his position was 
as clear as tlie sun in a cloudless sky. He was a 
man of strong convictions ; he saw clearly, he be- 
lieved firmly, he fought consistently, as the brave 
fight. His sense of honesty would not permit him 
even to mislead. He would speak the truth even 
when silence would have answered. His promise 
was performance ; once given, never recalled ; 



21 

his emphatic " no," seldom reconsidered. Few men 
ever had a more devoted or loyal following, and few 
men had greater faculty of turning opponents into 
friends. Nor did he win friendship or popularity 
by a false affability or by assumed graciousness. It 
was his rugged honesty and sterling qualities that 
made men trust and love him. On the other hand, 
he was uncompromisingly loyal to his own friends, 
and would sacrifice himself rather than forsake 
them. He said with the poet, 

"The friends thou hast and their adoption tried, 
Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel." 

Such a man possessed all the natural qualities of 
leadership, and his was a leadership of men by 
loyalty rather than power. Never was his strength 
in this respect more clearly shown than in the hour 
when sickness had compelled him to yield the active 
control of affairs. He had returned from Europe 
with little hope of recovery, and when the conven- 
tion of his party met in September, for the first time 



22 

in tliirty years he was unable to be present. It was 
a solemn and impressive gathering, meeting as it did 
under the very shadow of the death of the President 
of the United States, and although the members of 
that body felt that General Sewell would never again 
carry the banner of leadership, his voice was just as 
potent as though he had been on the ground in all 
his old-time vigor. That convention took sincere 
pride in unanimously passing a resolution declaring 
that, " as delegates in convention assembled, we send 
our most cordial and heartfelt greetings to our absent 
leader, Senator William J. Sewell. We recognize 
that his devoted and patriotic services to his State 
and country have been given at the sacrifice of his 
health and strength, and while we miss his presence 
and valuable counsel on this occasion, we hope for 
his speedy recovery to his former health and vigor, 
and look forward with confidence to the time he 
will again lead us in person, as he does now in spirit 
and influence." Such a tribute comes only to the 
men whom the people love. 



23 

It is not necessary to dwell at length upon his 
legislative career. It began in these halls and 
ended in the Senate of the United States. Pains- 
taking, faithful, unfailing in attention to duty, 
combining intimate acquaintance with public re- 
quirements, with willingness to render assistance 
wherever needed, he made himself well nigh indis- 
pensable to his constituents. " If you want a thing 
done, go to General Sewell," was the current advice 
and practice, until the whole State, regardless of 
party, leaned on him in confidence and trust. 

He was not of an oratorical temperament, but was 
inclined to act rather than talk. He was 

"A true knight, 
Speaking in deeds, but deedless in his tongue." 

Yet when he did speak, it was always with clear- 
ness, force and effect. His presentation of the Mon- 
roe Doctrine was a splendid exposition of that 
international question, and won for him the highest 
encomiums of the best scholars of the country. His 
judgment on public questions was patriotic and 



24 

statesmanlike. Personal considerations were always 
subordinate to the welfore of the State, and never 
for a sinjrle instance caused him to swerve from the 
strict line of duty. His influence among his col- 
leagues was unquestioned. No one stood higher in 
their estimation, and in achievement of results, 
he was second to no Senator at Washington. The 
high regard in which he was held at the capital of 
the nation was signally illustrated during the 
Spanish War. The President sent to the Senate for 
appointment as Major-Generals of Volunteers the 
names of Sewell and Wilson, Wheeler and Lee. It 
was a splendid and dramatic company of military 
heroes. Two of them had worn the gray, and two 
had worn the blue. They had crossed swords on 
the field of civil conflict. Now the President of a 
reunited people commissioned them, with the con- 
currence of the Senate, to fight side by side under 
the Stars and Stripes. The nominations were at 
once confirmed. General Sewell was anxious to don 
again the uniform and buckle on the sword. His 



25 

old longing for the soldier's life returned, for he was 
essentially a military man, and to one of his close 
personal friends he said : " I want to have a hand 
in this war, as I had in the last." But the interests 
of the country demanded that he should not abandon 
his place in the Senate, and urgent appeals came to 
him, not only from his own State, but from all parts 
of the country, to remain at the legislative post of 
duty. Then came a remarkable tribute. His party 
colleagues in the Senate, without a single exception, 
signed and sent to him a letter urging him to de- 
cline the appointment. " We do this," so reads the 
letter, "knowing that the appointment is well merited 
by your distinguished military career and your 
genius for organization and command, but we feel in 
this exigency, neither the party nor the country can 
forego in the Senate the influence of your experi- 
ence, ability, patriotism and integrity in legislative 
service. 

" The military fame which, in your younger days, 
you won in battle for the preservation of the Union, 



26 

cannot well be augmented, and with one accord, we, 
your party associates and friends, venture to express 
the hope that your sense of public duty will lead 
you to continue without interruption in the service 
of the Senate, which we all feel is of direct utility to 
the country." 

It is interesting to note that in this flattering re- 
quest there joined another distinguished Jerseyman 
and life-long friend, Garret A. Hobart. To such 
an appeal there could be no refusal, and though his 
commission had been filled out and handed to him, 
the General put aside his cherished ambition and 
declined the appointment. The President of the 
United States did him the honor never to appoint a 
successor. 

I should fail to do justice to the real man if I 
neglected to speak of his personal traits. His austere 
and dignified manner was sometimes mistaken for 
coldness, but behind this air of quiet dignity he had 
a genial, loving nature and a warm heart that beat 
for all mankind. He disdained show and display. 



27 

His modesty made him retiring, and while he was 
as courageous as a lion on the field of action, in 
business or in legislative hall, socially he was timid 
and shrinking, and avoided rather than sought atten- 
tion. No one, however, was ever fonder of his friends 
and associates, or more thoroughly appreciated and 
enjoyed their society. He was kindness itself, and 
delighted in acts of benevolence. He was a generous 
giver, and never refused to listen to the appeal of the 
needy and deserving. Indeed, in times of distress 
he took occasion to look after the condition of the 
poor and see if they were in need of relief. But 

while 

" He had a tear for pity, and a hand 

Open as day for melting charity," 

he shrank from publicity in his giving, and said to 
those upon whom he had conferred a favor : " See 
thou tell no man." 

Religious institutions always found in him a sub- 
stantial friend. He was most liberal in his assist- 
ance to churches and church work, and always 
opposed any movement that would tend to abridge 



28 

their privileges or their usefulness. He believed 
they were the chief factors in conserving the inter- 
ests of good order and the well-being of society. So 
profound was his respect for all religious influences 
that he would not even tolerate the criticisms of 
their opponents, and on one occasion he refused to 
meet, either publicly or privately, a noted infidel 
who had come to the State, on the ground that the 
constitution of New Jersey was founded on the 
Bible, and he could not afford to countenance any- 
one who came to attack that foundation. 

It was in his home life, however, that his real 
nature was most clearly revealed, and the attributes 
which made his character beautiful and attractive 
were there most clearly seen. His family was the 
object of his teuderest care. Like McKinley, his 
home life was a model, and displayed a chivalry of 
love and devotion that even the engrossing cares of 
a public career were never allowed to disturb. 
When presented with the medal of honor for bravery 
at Chancellorsville, he looked at it in silence for a 



29 

time, aud tlieu said, in a voice broken with emotion : 
" This will please ray wife and my children." His 
reverence for his mother, who died in his early 
youth, was touching and tender. Her memory was 
always strong in his affections and so long as he lived, 
he assisted in keeping in repair the little church in 
which she had worshiped, fitting it with memorial 
windows and providing free pews — a token of his 
filial devotion. 

It is seldom, indeed, that one makes a success 
worthy of public attention in even a single avoca- 
tion ; still rarer is it to achieve greatness in every 
field of effort into which one enters. Soldier, patriot, 
business man, statesman ! In all of these, history 
writes General Sewell high on the roll of honor. 
Pass his career in hasty review. He begins at the 
bottom. He rises to the top. He ships upon a 
merchantman as a boy, he returns as first mate. He 
offers himself as private in the War of the Eebellion 
and becomes a Major-General ; he enters the rail- 
road service as agent and becomes its President. 



30 

He begins bis political career in tbe State Legisla- 
ture and becomes United States Senator, the highest 
office to which he was eligible. This is his record, 
written in his own deeds. 

With a strong and vigorous constitution, supple- 
mented by a fine physique, which to look upon 
"gave the world assurance of a man," he promised 
to outlive the allotted three-score-and-ten. During 
the last three years, however, the strain to which he 
was subject from private and public duties began 
to tell, and he gave evidence of failing health, which 
his friends endeavored to believe was nothing more 
than the weariness of overwork. In the spring of 
ISOl, however, his condition became so serious and 
the change in his appearance so noticeable, that even 
the most hopeful realized that the fight with death 
was near at hand. Bravely, heroicly, uncomplain- 
ingly, he faced the Great Conqueror. A trip to 
Europe, always before a means of relief, served only 
to disclose his waning strength, and his return in a 
condition too weak to see his intimate friends was a 



31 

preraoDition of the worst. Cape May, his home by 
the sea, was tried in vain. Then he turned to the 
Southland, in the pathetic hope that its dry mountain 
air would check the ravages of disease. Here again 
he was doomed to disappointment. Surrounded by 
his family, attended by the ministrations of his 
heroic and devoted wife, he had every care that love 
and science could devise. Gradually his splendid 
vitality succumbed. To those who saw him in these 
last days, he reminded one of the dying of a great 
oak, which, without strength to resist the blasts and 
storms, faces them helpless, but undismayed. From 
the window of his sick chamber he looked out upon 
an ever-changing scene of valley, mountain and 
sky ; touched now by the grey of dawn, now bathed 
in the splendor of noonday, now crimson in the 
evening glow, and as he saw the sun set beyond 
those lofty hills, to shine apparently in another 
world, he knew that eventide was near for him. 
Behind him in retrospect was a life of struggle and 
success, of labor well done, of duty well performed, 



32 

of acts of kindness and charity, and a character 
pure, stainless, untarnished. The rapid progress of 
his disease hastened his return to the State, and he 
came back to his home — where for thirty-five years 
he had lived in the esteem and love of his fellow- 
citizens — to await the end. December 27th, 1901, 
he passed peacefully and painlessly away. 
" Like a shadow thrown 
Swiftly and sweetly from a passing cloud, 
Death fell upon him." 
He died in the height of his influence, in the full- 
ness of his power, in the harvest of success. I do 
not forget his great achievements, the high honors 
he won, the applause he gained ; but if I should 
write his epitaph, remembering his earnest and 
sincere character, I should say of him, in the lines of 
the poet — 
" Not stirring words, nor gallant deeds alone ; 

Plain, patient work fulfilled that length of life ; 

Duty, not glory — service, not a throne. 

Inspired his effort," 



y 



iii:i i 



